How To Lose Weight?
Why is it that so many people ask “how to lose weight” when it is such a simple solution? I think part of the problem is that it is hard to achieve and therefore many expect the solution to be difficult and complicated. The truth is that losing weight is actually a very simple solution. If you ask anybody how to lose weight then the answer will be to consume fewer calories than your daily need. The problem with this simple solution is that it takes more effort than just popping a pill or consuming 5 readymade drinks a day. So often the expensive solution is followed when the simple solution is free.
If you want to know how to lose weight then you will have to establish a plan like any other structured approach that is implemented in business or on a personal level. First we have to understand the current situation and paint a picture of the situation as it is today. The next step is to determine the ultimate goal and what that state should look like. Yes, it is not always possible to reach the ultimate goal, but we change and adapt over time as necessary. The key is to create a goal and then adjust as we implement our plan. The third step is mostly the difficult one and where people tend to falter. In the third step we create and follow the plan that will take us from the current situation to the desired, future situation. So let’s try to break this question of how to lose weight down into three easy steps and then I will provide some additional ideas of making a success of the critical third part in this journey.
Understanding My Current Situation
The better I understand my current situation, the easier it would be to evaluate if I have reached my goal. And my goal here is not to understand how to lose weight, but to make sure that I have lost the weight and can keep it off. I want to go beyond just the basic idea of I am 20 pounds overweight and no I want to lose 20 pounds. This to me is not a strong enough incentive to lose weight and actually make the effort to lose weight. No, there are multiple other reasons why I want to lose weight so I try to list all of them and this list helps me to evaluate my success. What the particular reason might be that you want to lose weight can and most probably will be different from mine, but here are just a few suggestions to understand what I mean.
- I want to lose weight for health reasons (list specific condition)
- My waistline is too big and I want to reduce it
- My underarms are flabby and I want to tone my arms
- My stomach is hidden beneath layers of fat and I want to uncover my abs
- My level of fitness is low and I need to increase that so I can stay active
The key I want to make is that it is not just about how to lose weight but more importantly why to lose weight. These emotional drivers will be much stronger and will help to keep you on track. Right down why you want to lose weight and then take the measurement to establish the baseline for today. That means write down your weight, take some key measurements of your waistline, arms, legs, etc. and then even do a basic fitness test to determine where you are today. Take a picture if that is even more powerful. The key is to take notes about your current situation and write explicit reasons why you want to change that situation.
Write Down Your Weight Loss Goals
And the weight loss goal is not to lose 2 pounds of weight per week. No, that is more the execution of the plan than the ultimate goal. The ultimate goal is tied to the reason(s) why you want to lose weight. In my case there I had more than one reason why I wanted to lose weight and not all of them were tied to the same goal. So I had multiple goals. One was purely a weight goal, but I also wanted to increase my fitness and increase my muscular strength. So I wrote down specific targets for each of these. Again, similar to the reasons why you are trying to lose weight, the more specific the better. Here are a few examples.
- I want to weigh 150 lbs
- I want to have less than 12% body fat
- I want to bench press 200 lbs
- I want to run 8 miles per hour when jogging
Not all of these goals are necessarily tied to weight loss only, but they are tied to why you want to lose weight and what you want to achieve at the end of it. It is not just weight; it is so much more than it. If that picture you took was a great motivator, then why don’t you go photoshop an ideal picture as well? Make it personal and make it explicit. These are the things that will help us when we are on the journey of weight loss and better health.
Execute The Weight Loss Plan
To execute the weight loss plan successfully, we need to understand the three basic ingredients that combine to form our daily routine. If we want to understand how to lose weight, then we have to understand the following three things:
- Base Metabolic Rate (BMR)
- Calories burned by exercise and activities
- Calories consumed during meals, snacks, and drinks
There are calculators available to calculate your BMR, but just remember that the formula is an estimate and can never be absolutely accurate. Remember that your BMR will change as you lose weight so recalculate at least monthly.
Next you need to know how many calories you burn during exercise and other daily activities. Some gym and cardio equipment will provide the number of calories burned while others can be calculated online. Again, these are just estimates but will give you a good indication. I normally reduce the number of calories by 10% since most of these provide a more positive result than what it really should be.
The third and final part is to know how many calories you consume during the day. Most food packages come with nutritional labels with all the information and that makes it easier. If you are like me then you will probably also consume more raw food and vegetables that don’t always come with a nutritional label. There are various places online that you can find the detail. I like those where I can input everything that I put into the dish and then it gives me the overall nutritional label similar to a packaged meal. The benefit is that I see the ratio between macro nutrients and that makes it easier for me to adjust carbohydrates, protein, and fat to my liking.
Put it all together and the ideal should be that your daily intake of calories is less than your daily expenditure. You want this deficit to be between 500 to a thousand calories a day for a healthy 1 to 2 pounds of weight loss per week. If that is not the case, then adjust accordingly. There is not much you can do about the BMR, but you can then either increase activity level or decrease calories consumed during the day. Strike a healthy balance and this could easily be maintained for the rest of your life.
How Do I Keep On Track?
One of the biggest problems I normally see is that people don’t adjust over time. Now that you know how to lose weight, it is important to keep adjusting for the weight already lost. With weight loss your BMR will change and that will mean that you need to adjust calories consumed and the level of activity as well. If you find that you are always hungry, then try to increase the calories consumed, but still maintaining a deficit. It is more important to lose some weight than it is to starve. Stay consistent and make small adjustments rather than expecting to lose all the weight in one week.
Remember the reason(s) why you wanted to lose weight in the first place. Read through them again. Make sure they are still relevant and make adjustments as necessary. Maybe you have reached one of your goals already. Maybe you have identified new goals. The key is to keep a list of reasons and a list of goals that you review monthly. Keep key statistics to measure progress and then make small adjustments. Yes, it might be more effort than just popping a pill once a day, but this is the key to losing weight permanently.
The answer to “how to lose weight” is not difficult. It really is an easy answer. The difficult part is finding the motivation and determination to keep on track. The more specific you are in your reasons and goals, the easier it will be to keep motivated and following the plan. So next time do not ask “how to lose weight”, but rather “how I’ve lost weight”. I can tell you I have popped a few pills in my time and have followed a few diets. In the end I always came back to a simple plan that is easy to follow and that guarantees success. And that guarantee is in myself. My ability to keep myself motivated and following a sensible, healthy approach. How to lose weight is about a few basic principles and just making it a daily task to take responsibility for your own success. How to lose weight is about knowing which changes to make so that you can reach your weight loss goals.
There are easier ways, but this is the best way to lose weight permanently. How to lose weight is not a difficult thing to answer. What you will find is that once you have the answer it is much more difficult to follow a structured plan that will keep the weight off permanently. Don’t give up and always look for additional ideas of how to lose weight and keeping it off.
You can also read this How To Lose Weight article and other articles on my Fitness and Health website.
Your friend in Fitness and Health,
Kobus
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